Deputy of the Year known as 'creator, builder'

'Actionable intelligence'

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office deputy of the year Cpl. Vinnie Russo uses a computer to do composite drawings, facial reconstructions and sketches for the department. By PETER WILLOTT, peter.willott@staugustine.com

Cpl. Vincent Russo didn’t get a blueprint when he was asked to take charge of forming a new unit at the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office that seeks to make law enforcement “proactive rather than reactive.”

No one knew exactly how the Intelligence-Led Policing Unit should function.

Within the past couple of years, Russo has shaped the unit into a team of analysts and detectives who serve as a pipeline of “actionable intelligence” to the whole department.

“He started it basically from the ground up,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Mary Fagan, who is commander over the bureau that includes Russo’s unit.

Sheriff David Shoar says Russo’s work has helped create a more meaningful approach to fighting crime.

This month, Russo, 47, was selected as the Sheriff’s Office deputy of the year for his performance on the job throughout the year.

Recently, Russo talked about the unit and his career in law enforcement, which spans more than 20 years and includes the creation of the Sheriff’s Office Adolescent Character Enrichment, or ACE program, and the department’s annual haunted house.

‘Actionable intelligence’

The Kent Constabulary of Great Britain developed the concept of intelligence-led policing after seeing a spike in property crimes during the time when funding was being cut for police budgets, according to a Department of Justice report. Officials focused on the most common crimes in the area and prioritized their calls, which freed their time to create intelligence units that focused on the property crimes. Crime dropped 24 percent in a few years.

It’s a concept that has since gained credence in law enforcement units around the world including St. Johns County.

The local Policing Unit keeps information flowing to the right places, providing “actionable intelligence” to the four main districts and the central district at the Sheriff’s Office.

“Our job is to get those five entities … and kind of tie them together and make sure that everybody’s getting information and everybody’s talking and we’re not ... four or five separate agencies,” Russo said.

The unit does that by having meetings each week with leaders at the Sheriff’s Office and once a month with intelligence officials from agencies outside the county, including federal agencies and other sheriff’s offices.

Eight people, including crime analysts and detectives, make up the unit.

Actionable intelligence goes beyond basic information and helps commanders be more proactive in fighting crime, Russo said. For instance, if there is a string of car burglaries in an area, the unit can use predictive analysis to help determine where and when the next burglary may happen — and which suspects might fit the profile.

“These commanders can do something with this intelligence,” Russo said. “It changes the whole game.”

The unit handles a broad range of intelligence and monitors groups, such as motorcycle gangs, hate groups and sovereign citizens.

According to the FBI, “sovereign citizens,” as they call themselves, are “a loose network of individuals ... (who) believe that federal state and local governments operate illegally.” Some of their actions may seem minor; others are criminal. Their behavior “may escalate to violence,” and the agency reports that “since 2000, lone-offender sovereign citizen extremists have killed six law enforcement officers.”

Wide-ranging issues

“It’s pretty fluid,” said Dave Rosado, a detective on the unit. “We do anything from homeland security issues to identifying theft suspects,” he said.

The unit also keeps tabs on people who have made it to the list of “prolific offenders,” people who have a long criminal history in the county. Road deputies have access to the list of prolific offenders so they’ll know who they are, and if they’re known to be violent.

“These are professional criminals,” said Det. Tres Edenfield.

Edenfield, who maintains the prolific offender list and keeps track of sovereign citizens, also checks police reports daily and works with crime analysts to find trends. That information gets passed along so that deputies can be in the right place at the right time.

“It’s trying to keep us ahead of the curve,” he said. “Trying to be very proactive instead of reactive.”

Edenfield said Russo had the task of shaping the unit “pretty much thrown on him” but has been able to piece the people and the parts together to make it successful.

“He’s determined. He’s extremely intelligent,” Edenfield said.

“He’s just got a creative ingenuity … and the sheriff and the undersheriff knew that.”

A builder

Russo is used to building things.

As an artist, he does composite drawings, age progressions and facial reconstructions for multiple agencies including the U.S. Marshals and the FBI.

He recently did a facial reconstruction for a man whom Flagler County officials found dead in the water. He had been shot in the back of the head, and Russo explained he “had to make him look like a normal guy again.”

Russo also was asked to create the official age progression for Frank Morris, who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 and has never been found.

“Any time you see an age progression of Frank Morris on TV, I’m the one that did that,” Russo said.

Born in New Jersey, Russo moved to South Florida before he was a few years old. His family moved to the St. Augustine area when he was 17. He lives in St. Augustine with his wife and six dogs.

His first job in local law enforcement was at the St. Augustine Police Department, where he worked for several years.

After coming to the Sheriff’s Office, he became a field training officer and was on the SWAT team for more than 12 years as an operator. Later, he was one person who oversaw training and other logistics for tactical teams, such as the bomb and dive teams.

Making a difference

Russo said some of his favorite memories came when he oversaw the Adolescent Character Enrichment program at the Sheriff’s Office. The program started more than a decade ago with the idea of combining boot camp discipline and mental health for troubled youth.

Around 1,500 juveniles went through the 10-week program, which ran for 12 years before losing funding.

Russo saw the program make a difference.

“That’s one of the things I’m really proud of,” he said.

One of his former students called him recently and asked for him to be a reference for a job — the student wants to go into law enforcement.

He also helped start the annual Sheriff’s Office Horror Zone, a 15,000-square-foot warehouse that is transformed into a haunted house and provides a safe place for Halloween enthusiasts. He also oversaw the design.

When Russo was chosen to build and lead the Intelligence-Led Policing Unit, he studied the concept and talked with officials at other agencies to get ideas.

He had an idea of what the leaders at the Sheriff’s Office were looking for, “but he brought it all together,” said Cmdr. Fagan. Russo was given some direction, but he “created it and made it happen.”

“… He’s a creator, a builder,” Fagan said. “He can take something and build it from the ground up.”

Fagan said she believes his drive and his ability to work with others are part of the reason he was selected for the Deputy Guy White award.

“He’s somebody that comes to work every day in a good mood. He’s ready to work. He gives it his all,” she said. “He just relates well with everybody.”

***

The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office selects one law enforcement or corrections officer every year for the Deputy Guy White Award, which is the deputy of the year award.

The award is given out yearly by the Sheriff’s Office to a person who has excelled throughout the year.

Deputy Guy White is believed to be the first St. Johns County deputy killed in the line of duty. He was shot while investigating a disturbance on a passenger train on March 5, 1911.

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